Strollers put Warriors to the sword with stunning win
posted: June 28, 2015

The Strollers today snatched an astonishing (if unlikely) win over new opposition the Hampstead Warriors in a heated away clash at Hampstead Garden Suburb. Having won the toss and elected to bat, the Warriors hit an immense 283 from their 35 overs, this mainly due to some aggressive heavy scoring from their top order with our cause not helped by at least four dropped catches — mostly difficult chances but costly nonetheless. Despite that, penetrating spells from Ron (3-39) and débutant Mani Joshi (no relation to the sadly absent Harsh) — who collected four excellent wickets — kept us in the game and, with four victims claimed by Captain Couldrey behind the stumps making up for some of those shelled opportunities (plus a couple of blatant run outs that were inexplicably not given) we retained just the slightest whiff of hope.

Chasing down a score approaching 300 was never going to be easy but, despite the early losses of George and Tom, Henry Jones — making a welcome return to the Strollers to open the innings — built the perfect platform, falling just shy of a well earned fifty. However, the stars of the show were undoubtedly Ron and Viral, the former playing beautifully and maintaining a high scoring rate throughout, the latter characteristically smashing the ball to all parts until he was eventually dislodged for a scintillating 71. However, despite this and some increasingly cantankerous exchanges between the two sides, Ron kept his head and kept up with the run rate to carry us home with an over to spare ...the only unfortunate aspect being that he himself unluckily and narrowly missed out on notching up a thoroughly deserved ton. In the face of genuine scoreboard pressure and, frankly, more than our fair share of handbags in the middle, it was a truly incredible victory.

Gavin Richardson
28.06.15

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